


that one time with the goat

by archival_hogwash



Series: Tumblr Prompts Revisited [2]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack Treated Seriously, Droids to Animals, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Strangers to Friends to Maybe More?, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 08:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11204421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archival_hogwash/pseuds/archival_hogwash
Summary: “i woke up this morning to find you sitting in my living room with a goat in a poncho??? who are you??? why is the goat wearing a poncho??? how did you get the goat in here i live on the 12th floor???” au-list of trash aus i need immediately, bullet point #6





	1. in which our protagonist wakes to a reality he cannot comprehend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SassySnowperson (DramaticEntrance)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaticEntrance/gifts).



Bodhi Rook's eyes shot open when he heard what could only be described as...muffled bleating?

_The fuck?_

He held himself as still as he could. The breath he didn't realize he was holding welled up in his throat, pushing more and more insistently against his tongue. He imagined his hearing radiating out from him like water rippling away from a raindrop.

An eternity passed, and he heard nothing else.

The breath exploded from his throat in a choked gasp, and his chest rose and fell like waves. "...Okay, that was wei--"

Another bleat, louder and sharper this time, as if the source of the noise had somehow gotten closer.

_But how? Wha--What the actual fuck is going on?!_

Bodhi sat up abruptly, and snapped the thin sheet aside as he stood in a position as close to upright as he could manage. He winced and recoiled as the noonday sun hit him squarely in the face--which, of course, is about when his ankle slammed up against the corner of his futon frame. He fell in a sprawling heap across the itchy upholstery of the now-sheetless fold-out bed, and let out a thoroughly undignified yowl.

“...OW.”

When Bodhi heard the bleating again this time, it was accompanied by the gentle murmur of a voice he didn't recognize.

He froze again. “Hello?” The silence stretched out in a long plume through the apartment. Still no new sounds, besides the humming of his nerves and the thunder of his heartbeat.

**clip clop clip**

Bodhi started violently at the faint clicking of...hoofbeats? Very small hooves on tile?

**clip clop clipclop clip**

**_mmmEEEhehehehe_ **

His shoulders slumped as he let out a slow, measured exhale. _Fuck. There is a farm animal ninja in my kitchen. Sure. Fantastic_ , he thought bitterly as he worked his way back onto his feet, and made for the door to the kitchen-slash-living room. _I literally just woke up, and crazy shit is already happening, but hey! What else is new, right? It's probably just a prank. This is just Jyn and Chirrut raising the stakes in their endless prank war. It's gotta be, because I swear to God, if I find any signs of those sneaky bastards I’m gonna--_

Bodhi shoved the door open and froze (again) when he saw who was sitting on his couch.

“Oh, hi!” The young man (blond, early twenties, cheerful and _very attractive wow_ ) grinned and gave a small, timid wave. Bodhi's gaze jerked to the stranger’s other hand, which rested in the soft patch of hair...between the stubby horns of a white-and brown-spotted _goat_ , wearing a hand-crocheted _poncho_ in a shade of royal blue that made his eyes water and his brain throb.

Bodhi couldn’t move. He wasn't sure if he had ever moved, or would ever be able to move again. This was his life now.

“...’kay, what the actual fuck.”


	2. in which some of Bodhi's questions are answered, and the stranger gets a name

The stranger’s bright smile slipped. “What do you–-”

Bodhi, fueled by rage and confusion and sleep deprivation, interrupted, “Who are you? Why are you in my apartment–I lock that door religiously so _how did you even get in_ –-also, _a goat_?! A FUCKING GOAT? WHY IS THERE A GOAT, IN A PONCHO, IN MY APARTMENT, AT NINE IN THE GODDAMN MORNING?!”

The stranger moved as if to stand up and extended his hands in a placating gesture. Unfortunately, his reach was cut short by the loop of paracord around his wrist. As he yanked his hand upward and the goat gave an indignant shriek, Bodhi could now see that the goat had a matching, if much looser, loop around its neck. The stranger winced, and brought his head close to his companion’s much smaller one, murmuring, “I’m sorry, Artoo, I didn’t mean to pull on you, I just forgot, I’m sorry, buddy…”

He tipped his face back up toward Bodhi and smiled apologetically. “Could you give me a sec to just…?”

“Yeah. Sure. No problem,” Bodhi replied as he sat down on the opposite end of the couch, stunned into politeness by the exhaustion of yelling at this very nice-looking random, the ringing in his ears from residual goat yelling, and the tenderness said rando felt for said tiny yelling goat in a blue blanket.

The stranger smiled in response, and set about untying the makeshift leash from around the goat’s neck. “Thanks, man. He’s had kind of a rough day, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Bodhi managed to reply through the fog of surreality that had apparently settled over this entire day, and by extension, his entire existence. The stranger scratched gently behind the goat’s ears, and Bodhi found himself chuckling slightly at the goat’s soft snorts of pleasure.

After a few moments of surprisingly friendly silence, broken only by quiet goat snuffles, the stranger looked back up at Bodhi.

“So uh, I’m gonna start over a bit.” He extended his hand, smiling again, and said, “I’m Luke.”

Bodhi took his hand, and smiled back in bemusement. “Bodhi.”

“Nice to meet you, uh, Bodhi?” Luke trailed off as he said it, his voice heavy with uncertainty at the unfamiliar sounds.

“Bodhi, yeah, ” he repeated, still smiling and now entirely unsure why. “You had it right the first time.”

“Cool, cool.” Another silence fell between them, thicker and more uncomfortable this time.

“So, uh–-”

“Yeah, so–-”

The two men looked up at each other, startled, and then grinned. Luke reached up to rub the back of his neck, and Bodhi firmly redirected his gaze to a patch of pockmarked grout between the floor tiles.

Finally, Luke spoke up. “So, uh, I’m really glad that we’ve met, _finally_ , but I promise I didn’t plan for it to happen this way.”

Bodhi sat up. “Wait, what do you mean, we’ve finally met?”

A blotchy red blush spread up Luke’s neck, and his voice croaked slightly as he replied, “You’re–-you TA for Erso–- _Galen_ Erso, not his wife–-for his Aeronautics labs, right? I’m, I’m in the 9 AM section–-the Friday 9 AM section, I mean.”

Bodhi’s eyebrows shot up as the pieces of scattered visual memories clicked into place, and he grinned at Luke. “I remember you! You’re the religion major, right?”

“Eastern Religions and Philosophy, yeah, I know, it’s hokey as shit, I get it,” Luke muttered.

Bodhi’s grin softened, and his brow furrowed gently in consternation as he reached out to lay a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Dude, I’m not gonna give you shit for that–-I mean, how could I? You’re a non-science kid doing, fuckin',  _applied physics_ to meet a gen ed requirement. That takes some serious courage.”

Luke raised his eyes to Bodhi’s hand on his shoulder, and then to his face. “You think?”

“Yeah, man. I do.”

Luke’s answering smile was blinding. “Thanks, dude. Means a lot.”

In the resulting silence, neither Luke nor Bodhi made any attempts to move Bodhi’s hand from Luke’s shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> SO THIS WAS A TIME! thanks again to SassySnowperson for being so kind about receiving basically just 450-ish words of exposition and a [to be continued] label, written between 1 and 2 AM, in response to a fic prompt, and for encouraging me to keep writing through whatever the heck this roller coaster ride just was <3


End file.
